


what he needs

by smudgythoughts



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Bisexual Dean Winchester, Canon Compliant, Coda, Episode Tag, Episode: s13e16 Scoobynatural, Jealous Dean Winchester, M/M, Movie Night, him having a crush on fred is CANON
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-31
Updated: 2018-03-31
Packaged: 2019-04-16 07:44:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,160
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14160042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smudgythoughts/pseuds/smudgythoughts
Summary: "Dean," Cas suddenly asks, during a scene where Scooby and Shaggy are shoving as much food into their mouths as humanly possible. "Why were socloseto Daphne?"Immediately Dean's face is flaming red. His current crush asking about his first crush, the latter being a cartoon character? Not a situation he wanted to be in.A coda to 13x16.





	what he needs

**Author's Note:**

> for some reason writing block really hit me with a hammer these last couple of months. I'm glad to finally finish something, as short as this is.

Dean catches up to Cas on the steps of the Bunker staircase. Dean is still wearing his ascot, even if there isn't a girl around to impress. He also pulled on a pair of comfy plaid pajama pants he would deny ever buying if Sam asked.

"Yes, Dean?"

Dean tries not to take offense to how cold Cas is, how clipped his words are. Cas is in soldier mode right now, and Dean can't put into words how much he just wants his friend back. "Is there, uh, anywhere you need to be?”

“Well I should get started on tracking down the Seal of Solomon,” Cas says. “And there’s still getting back Jack and your mother, and the whole matter of Asmodeus–”

“So nowhere you need to be at this very moment,” Dean interrupts. “As in, you can help me break in the TV room.” He flushes. It sounds all too much like he's asking Cas to help Christianize the room. While not wearing clothes. Not that Dean would be opposed to that, necessary. "Like watch a show or something," he adds lamely.

Cas stares at him for a long moment. "Okay." He has the faintest hint of a smile on his face.

"Okay?"

"Okay," Cas confirms. He takes the stairs slowly, one at a time. "Was Sam not up to watching TV with you?"

Dean snorts. "He would rather spend all day with his head in a book than watch, say, Dr Sexy with me."

When Dean lugged the two plaid-patterned armchairs into the 'Dean Cave' he didn't spare Sam a thought besides how entertaining Sam's face would be when he showed his brother the final project. No, the other armchair was always meant to be occupied by Cas.

//

When they watched Tombstone, they both sat on Dean's bed, if Cas a bit stiffly. The laptop had been out in front of them, balanced on Dean's lap. Dean spent less time paying attention to the movie than he did watching Cas and seeing all the minuscule reactions fly across his face. He thought about how warm Cas' thigh was pressed against his own, and spent the duration of the movie talking himself out of throwing an arm around Cas and pulling him close.

Now, though, they aren't on a bed or a couch together, but in two separate chairs. It's safer. Dean doesn't trust himself to not snuggle in closer to Cas if they were on a couch. And he's not allowed that. Doesn't deserve it, doesn't deserve _Cas_. Not yet.

//

"Thanks for convincing me to get another TV from that store, by the way," Dean says. The Netflix logo lets out a red-ish glow in the dark room.

"Hopefully this one isn't cursed," Cas remarks.

"Mmm. Though I'm not opposed to ending up in Star Trek. As long as I wasn't wearing a red shirt." Cas stares at him blankly, and Dean chuckles. It seemed Metatron hadn't uploaded quite everything involving pop culture into Cas' brain. "Star Trek is now on the list. Now... do you want to watch Scooby Doo?"

“Yes I would,” Cas says, smiling in a way that shows his teeth. “And I think the dog is my favorite. He has a certain… charm to him.”

Dean smiles as he thinks about how adorable Cas was interacting with Scooby. He types _Scooby Doo_ into the search bar with one hand.

"That one looks good," Cas says, pointing to the first result.

Dean can't stop wrinkling his nose up in disgust. "No the live action movies are... shit. Absolute shit. I don't consider them a part of canon." Charlie had taught him that terminology way back when. "We're going to start with the good old classic show."

He clicks on a random episode. If memory serves him right, it's the one where Daphne's aunt transforms into a cat creature and robs jewelry stores in her sleep. Yeah, he wouldn't be surprised if the Scooby Doo writers had been on drugs when coming up with episodes.

//

"Dean," Cas suddenly asks, during a scene where Scooby and Shaggy are shoving as much food into their mouths as humanly possible. "Why were so _close_ to Daphne?"

Immediately Dean's face is flaming red. His current crush asking about his first crush, the latter being a cartoon character? Not a situation he wanted to be in. He intends to say something objectifying Daphne, but what comes out is, "Sam and I were on the road a lot as kids. And none of the motels were ever the same. Some had leaky sinks, others a bed that creaked when you sat on it. The one constant, besides Sam being by my side, was that they all had Scooby Doo on TV."

And maybe a small part of himself imagined a world where hunting was like the Scooby Doo universe, where ghosts were only bad guys in masks and no one ever got hurt.

Somehow, Dean keep finding himself opening up to Cas, more than anyone else. Stripping off his facade piece by piece. When he looks over, Cas is staring at him with the softest expression, like Dean is someone to be treasured. It throws Dean for a loop. Dean needs that look off Cas' face before he does something stupid like lean forward and kiss him.

"And, you know, Daphne is hot," Dean adds, throwing in a grin and waggle of his eyebrows for good measure. It falls flat. Not to mention Daphne hadn't been the only member of the Scooby Gang he had a crush on. Liking both Daphne and Fred was a bit too much for his ten-year-old self to wrap his brain around, and he overcompensated by focusing all his attention on Daphne.

Cas blinks. Then: "I married a Djinn queen."

 _Huh?_ "Huh?"

"In exchange for the fruit from the Tree of Life. She was quite insistent."

Dean swallows over a lump in his throat. "That's... cool. Awesome. I'm so proud of you for getting some, buddy." It sounds even more fake than the time he had to act happy that Cas had hooked up with a reaper.

"It was never consummated," Cas says casually.

"Oh." Dean doesn't trust himself to say more. He's _ached_ for Cas for so long that now that he's tethering on the edge of something more he's afraid of taking the fall. He wouldn't know what to do with himself if Cas rejected him. But maybe it's worth it, maybe he deserves it, if Cas keeps smiling at him like the way he was before. Dean's eyes fall to Cas' lips–

Shaggy lets out a shrill scream, and Dean turns his attention back to the TV.

Some day they'll have to talk about this _thing_ between them, but right now Dean is just content to sit and watch Scooby Doo with Cas, his best friend, his everything. He lets out a deep breath and doesn't think about when Cas will have to leave.

**Author's Note:**

> also I originally intended this coda to be cas carrying heavy furniture for dean and dean drooling over him, but then I got distracted by cartoons and movie fluff.
> 
> ([rebloggable link](http://harplesscastiel.tumblr.com/post/172450537380/13x16-coda))


End file.
